The archbishop
was reportedly speaking to someone outside the Cathedral of the
Immaculate Conception after mass Wednesday when a man walked up behind
him and attempted to slash his throat with a knife.

The 73-year-old
archbishop fell and the attacker fled the scene. Police have arrested
the attacker, a 28-year-old resident of Rock Hall, but are not
releasing his identity until he is formally charged.

Church officials
say the archbishop’s life was saved by his clerical collar which he was
wearing at the time. “It’s a two-layered collar, so the knife cut the
first layer and it could not get to the throat because of the second
layer,” Msgr. Patrick Anthony told Caribbean Net News.

Internal Security Minister Calixte George denounced the attack as reprehensible and abhorrent.

On December 31,
2000 the cathedral was the scene of another brutal attack. Two
machete-wielding men stormed the building during mass and doused the
worshippers with gasoline before setting them ablaze. Others
worshippers were hacked with cutlasses. The attack left two people dead
and at least a dozen injured.

The perpetrators - Kim John and Francis Phillip - have since been convicted and are currently on death row.